Digerati

[adrianMP]

Digerati is the free NHS Intranet software and can be downloaded from the connectingforhealth website, the link is here
http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.u...vices/digerati

[SteveR]

Adrian, thanks for the heads up.

Are you currenltly running with this?

If so I'd be intersted in your comments and experiences.

Thanks
Steve

[SteveR]

Adrian, thanks for the heads up.

Are you currenltly running with this?

If so I'd be intersted in your comments and experiences.

Thanks
Steve

[adrianMP]

Steve, I have downloaded the software and have just had it installed by a local IT expert. I could have tried to do it myself, but with the EMIS server inplace I baulked! The idea is to convert all the practice policies and protocols onto the intranet.

[SteveR]

I was thinking about an Intranet a little way down the road (we are not a big practice) but was goin to simply create some web pages and store them on the local file server. When you are up and running I'd be very intersted i the functionality it can offer above and beyond a simple website approach.

I feel your pain re the EMIS box - I have just joined my practice and the box is sitting there doing some basic authentication and domain controlling duties as the practice is now running Systmone. I want to remove it but I fear I will have issues with DNS and probably printing shares. Need to do more research into the local network to get a better understanding.

Cheers
Steve

[avezard]

If anybody out there can help, I'd be grateful.

An intranet is what we really need in our practice, so Digerati seems to be an inexpensive and workable solution. EMIS have barely heard of it, not have my local PCT IT team.

What I'd like to know is the following:

-Any experiences of using it, perils/pitfalls/joys etc
-It sounds like a black belt in IT/networking /databases is needed-is this so? Is there a decent installation guide anywhere?
-Have any PCTs out there assisted with installation and set up?
-Can we stick it on the EMIS PCS Server or does it need to go on a client machine?

Thanks to anyone who can help

[gary]

the following comes from the connectingfor health site :
http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.u...erati/support/


Digerati is an Intranet administration and maintenance application available free to all NHS organisations and GP practices. The support of this application is also free through the Digerati Help Desk.
An upload component is required to enable uploading of documents onto the intranet server. There are now two choices of upload component:

• Firstly there is ASP Upload which costs about £80 which is payable on registration. A 30 day trial period is available for this component so users can try out the system before committing themselves to any cost.
• The other component is NHSIA Upload which is free. NHSIA Upload is approximately 10% slower at uploading documents than ASP Upload, but in most circumstances this difference would be barely noticeable.

Digerati will run on Windows98, Windows NT server or workstation, Windows 2000 server or pro and Windows XP. Digerati will also run on Windows 95, but because of the complication of installing Active Server Pages, this is not a supported option, we would advise that you install Windows 98 instead.
Digerati also requires a back end database to control the Intranet. For small systems up to about 50 users the Access '.mdb' files that we supply would be sufficient but larger organisations would require the Microsoft SQL Server database system.
If you have any questions about Digerati then please call our Help Desk and a member of the Digerati support team will return your call.


Digerati Help Desk | 01392 251289| and quote 'call type DIGERATI'

[avezard]

Thanks Gary, managed to find out all this info yesterday after some searching. The Google search was not very helpful and led to a private company in Bristol that charges for installation. We will be installing today on our EMIS server, so will post to let everyone know how I got on.

[avezard]

Thanks to my IT Guru, got it installed no problem. 20 minutes reading the manual and I was up and away. So far absolutely delighted, very easy to use. Will see how my colleagues at work react to using it, I've already posted up key protocols, clinical pathways, policies, enhanced service guides.

Not often in this game you can install a new piece of technology so smoothly.

Can foresee limitations and bugs, but obverall 9 1/2 out of 10

[avezard]

Further update on using the system:

So far vey stable and continues to be intuitive and easy to use. Going down well in the practice.

It works effortlessly with HTML generating programmes, such as HTML calendar pro. Have been able to generate an attractive GP Leave calendar for the intranet, which only I can control, this keeps the sticky fingers out of the pie as only I have access to make changes.

This is someone who until yesterday knew vaguely what HTML was, the calendar programme shows you how to do simple formatting tags such as bold, underlining etc

Still very pleased, with added bonus of having realised it's worth coming out of your IT comfort zone sometimes.